Oh hey, look at that, two chapters in one day! I need days off more often! Hope you enjoy this one. Thanks again for the reviews and follows and favs.
Henry sat on the bench at the principal's office and wondered how the last hour had managed to play out in such an awful way. He was for sure being sent out of Storybrooke, which sucked. I finally found a place that is good and they're going to send me away for sure. Emma and Regina won't put up with this. Great job Henry, great job.
He was pulled from his sadness when he looked up to see Emma and Regina practically running through the front doors of the school. I'm in so much trouble, they even called Emma already. She's probably taking me from school straight to somewhere else.
His train of thought was again stopped when Regina ran to him, and business suit and all, knelt down on the dirty school floor, grabbed his hands, and looked at him so closely, so intensely, he thought she would look right through him.
"Henry, who did this to you?" Regina thought her heart might stop when she walked into the school and saw dried blood down the front of one of the golf shirts she and Henry had chosen together one of his first days in Storybrooke, when they'd gotten him some clothes that fit his changing frame.
He looked to the tiles on the floor, that despite his staring, hadn't changed in the last 18 minutes and he couldn't hold in a tear that Regina caught from her intense staring.
"Parents of Henry White?" The principal peeked his head from his office, and seeing Regina and Emma standing bewildered, exited and shook their hands. Regina was not surprised to see Mike Johnson standing in front of her. At another time she may have laughed at the fact that this pleasant administrator was married to the grudge-holding secretary who had called, but for now, her focus was on Henry. "Why don't we enter my office? Regina, you've been holding out on this town. I didn't realize you had a…partner. Emma you said your name was?"
The woman looked at each other, and Emma laughed, the only thing she could do, as Regina stood shocked. She dusted the non-existent dust from her jacket and spoke sharply.
"Mr. Johnson, while I'm sure Miss Swan and I are equally flattered, I hate to break it to you that we are in fact, not together. I mean we came here together yes, but we're not together, like that…"
Emma had never been more fascinated with the wood grain of a desk in her entire life.
"Oh, my mistake," Mike corrected quickly. "Please, sit. And you know you can call me Mike, Regina."
Emma took a chair, barely remembering that she was one of the adults in this scenario but Regina stayed standing.
"I would like to know, Mr. Johnson, why Henry's shirt is covered in blood, and I will not sit until you explain to me why whoever caused that blood to be there is not the one called to the office."
Emma was immediately happy that she was not the one receiving the stare Regina was giving. She decided to stay quiet.
"Because, Regina, Henry won't tell us who did it."
That shut Regina up. Emma stood with that and lightly pushed Regina down into the chair beside her own. Seeing she was ready to listen, Mike continued.
"What we know is that Henry confronted someone in the 8th grade, that child threw the punch, Henry went down, and the other boy threatened the kids in the playground that if they said who did it, he'd do the same to them."
Emma just shook her head and Regina looked to him.
"Do you have any idea who it could be?" She asked.
"The teachers and I have an idea, yeah. But we don't know why Henry confronted him in the first place. That said, any confrontation needs to be disciplined. Because he's new and I have no way of knowing whether he hit back or tried to hit first, I'm kind of at a loss in terms of my disciplining Henry. I'm hoping that one of you can get the full story. What do you think?" Regina was trying to make sense of what she heard, and Emma knew she liked this principal. She couldn't help but think he seemed like the kind of guy who would have laughed at the dementor picture.
"Emma, I think you should talk to Henry," Regina said, pulling Emma from her thoughts. "I think he'll tell you what happened. I don't know that he wants to tell me, not yet anyway. The two of you have a different connection. I think you should talk to him."
Emma knew how badly Regina wanted to hold onto Henry and never let go, and so she knew how difficult it must have been for her to give Emma this. She nodded and got up. At their questioning looks, Emma responded,
"We're going for a walk. He's not going to tell me anything here." She got up, but turned back to Regina and grabbed her hands similar to how she had in the kitchen. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this, Regina. But this can be one of the realities of having a foster kid, it can be really hard."
"Yes, I know. Go, before he thinks we're plotting something against him." Regina gave a small smile, but Emma could see the pain in her eyes. She just wanted Henry to get helped.
Emma left the office and found Henry still sitting on the bench, now sitting with his head cradled in his hands.
"Henry, let's go."
He saw Emma exit the office, and seeing no sign of Regina, looked at her with regret and shame in his eyes, no longer trying to hide it. When they walked out the front door, he waited for her to unlock the passenger's side door. Emma had started walking and turned back to him saying,
"Let's go for a walk, alright?"
"We're not…we're not leaving?" Emma felt a lump in her throat at the hopefulness in his eyes but pushed it away. This was part of her job, she had to remember that.
"Not yet, kid. Just walk with me?"
They started walking and soon their strides matched up.
"One time, in my third foster home, I got into a fist fight."
Henry looked at Emma. This had not been the conversation he was expecting. He decided to just listen for now.
"One of the older kids was picking on a new, little kid. And the little kid, Robbie, had become attached to me pretty quickly. It was his first foster home and he really hadn't seen much kindness, maybe ever, in his whole life. He was like my little brother. And I cared about him a lot. So one day when the big kid was really, really teasing Robbie, I went up to him and punched him. Just punched him right in the face. I couldn't stand to watch him picking on him any more. I learned pretty quickly after that to not throw the first punch.
I see a lot of myself in you Henry, and I know you're strong. But I think you're stronger than I was, because there was no one else sitting at that office with blood on their shirt, just you. So I have a feeling I know how you got that bloody nose today, but I'm wondering if maybe you'll tell me?"
Henry had been kicking a rock every few steps while listening to Emma, and weighed his options; tell her and have to leave, don't tell her and have to leave. Both sucked. So he decided to tell her.
"Well I have this friend Anna in my class. At recess she was playing outside and her little sister was trying to play with her. This older kid from grade 8 came up to them, and starting pulling on their hair and pushing them around and calling them names. I wasn't gonna do anything, I swear, I was gonna stay out of trouble. But he pushed Anna hard, and she fell down," he stopped and looked up at Emma whose calm demeanor was listening patiently and who motioned that they sit down on the curb. "So when he pushed her I went over to him and told him to go find something better to do, and to leave them alone. And so he turned on me."
"And he threw the first punch." Emma finished.
"The only punch. He got me right on the nose and it started bleeding and he threatened everyone and said he'd make me bleed even more if I told. I just wanted him to stop picking on Anna, that's all" Henry cried into Emma's shoulder as she wrapped an arm around her.
"And you don't want to tell me who he is?" She asked lightly.
"No, I don't want him to hurt anyone else." Emma had a brief moment where she wondered how many other times Henry getting in trouble had been moments like this. How many of his moves could have been prevented?
Now that she knew the truth, she figured it was time to get him back to the school so the principal and Regina could figure out what they wanted to do. They stood up and walked back, and Emma was surprised to see Regina leaning on her car, outside of the school.
"What's going on?" Emma asked.
"We're going home." Regina said simply.
"But… aren't I in trouble?" Henry asked quietly.
"No, Henry." Regina said, surprised. "When I discussed with Mr. Johnson the fact that he was blaming the victim, and no other students were at the office with blood coming from their faces, and that it took a stronger young man to sit and wait for his punishment when he is innocent, than the one who refuses to present himself, who did that to you, he agreed that he didn't have the whole story and had no reason to keep you at the office."
Henry couldn't even stop his mouth from dropping open, and Emma couldn't help but think that Regina was most certainly a badass.
"But, you don't know if I hurt anyone…" he started.
"I don't need to know the story, Henry. I know you…or at least, I'm starting to. And the you I know didn't make anyone bleed today, and probably didn't deserve the hit that you took. Now, it's unfortunate that you bled on your shirt, and now that it's dry, we may not be able to get it out. However, let's just go home, I'll make us some dinner, and maybe Emma will finally try to beat you on Mario Kart?"
Henry could not believe the turn of events that had unfolded. Regina didn't even know the story but she believed he was innocent. And Emma knew the story, but wasn't making him go.
"Emma, you'll be joining us for dinner?" Regina asked as she climbed into the passenger's seat of Emma's car. Emma was pretty sure that she didn't have a choice with the roll Regina was currently on. She decided she'd hold on for the ride.
"For sure, thanks."
Emma drove them to Mifflin Street, and as they entered, Regina went into the kitchen to decide what to make. Emma and Henry, wearing twin expressions, waited for direction in the doorway.
"What do you guys want for dinner?" Regina asked.
"Henry, I think it's your choice." Emma suggested.
"Uh…," he hesitated, "could we maybe have Spaghetti?"
"I like the way you think, young man." Regina took out the ingredients she needed for her sauce and the pasta she would be making, while pouring herself some wine. "Now, before you two get into the games, Henry, please change that shirt and put the bloody one in the laundry room. Wine, Emma?" Henry was running up the stairs and Emma still stood in the doorway of the kitchen.
Emma had been staring, she knew it. She couldn't help it. Everything Regina had done in the last day had shown her not only was she an amazing woman, she was going to be an amazing mother to Henry. Regina had asked her something…what was it? Emma moved into Regina's space and when she was staring at her with wine in one hand and a glass in the other, Emma couldn't help but take her opportunity and bring the brunette into an embrace. At another time, Emma would have marveled in the way their bodies fit together, like Regina currently was through the shock, but Emma held on tightly and quietly said,
"Thank you for not giving up on him. Thank you for believing in him. And thank you for today. You were amazing…you are amazing."
Regina awkwardly put the wine glass and bottle down, and returned the embrace. She did not consider herself a hugger, by any means, but knowing how Emma felt in her arms, she wasn't quite ready to let her go. Regina didn't know what to say, had Emma just called me amazing…twice? she asked she simply hugged her in silence. How could Emma not see how amazing she was. She could tell by the looks on their faces when they walked back that Emma, in 5 minutes, had gotten the information everyone at the school had been waiting for for 30.
Emma pulled back, tears that had yet to fall sitting in her eyes, and her cheeks flushed from the realization of the very clear boundary she had totally just ignored by entering Regina's personal space and taking a few too many moments in her arms. Regina could feel the stare of a younger Emma, a once broken Emma looking at her, and she couldn't stop herself. Regina felt like she was watching from above, like she was out of her own body. And then she was back in the moment, and there was only Emma. Her hands went to Emma's face, and she leaned forward, and slightly down because of the heels she hadn't taken off yet, and just barely touched her lips to Emma's.